The Ingredient Ina Garten Uses To Spice Up Guacamole

Homemade crave-worthy guacamole is beloved, especially when Super Bowl Sunday rolls around. The Los Angeles Times reported that during Super Bowl 56, we ate an eye-popping 124 million pounds of Hass avocados and mainly in the form of guacamole. We love this dip, but if you go beyond the traditional recipe guidelines of using avocados, onion, tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno pepper, lime juice, garlic, and salt, you might find yourself being pummeled with an avocado pit. Chrissy Teigen was lambasted for sharing she puts cheese in her guacamole, per Bravo TV, and then there was the whole New York Times green pea guacamole brouhaha that lit up the internet and set pea haters on fire. Even former President Obama couldn't get behind that one. We're with him.

There is a sanctity around this avocado-based dip that should not be defiled. However, there is always an exception, and Ina Garten's recipe for guacamole is one that gives us pause to consider. Garten is a fairly traditional chef, making chicken dinners that leave us all salivating. But, the Barefoot Contessa's secret ingredient for guacamole is slightly unconventional, yet it isn't so over the edge that you'll call it guac foul. What's Garten's magical ingredient she uses to spice up her guac?

In 2017, Ina Garten posted a video on Instagram of herself preparing her guacamole recipe, which has a few key differences from the classic version. She captioned it with: "Can you ever make too much guacamole?? My secret is lots of freshly squeezed lemon juice to keep the guacamole bright green. And I always buy the avocados a few days in advance so they're perfectly ripe when I'm ready to use them."

But the real secret ingredient for Garten's guac recipe is Tabasco sauce. She swaps out the jalapenos for this spicy sauce with a kick and completely skips the cilantro because if you know Garten, then you know she isn't a fan of this herb. Additionally, the Food Network celebrity uses lemons over lime.

Of course, the true test is our taste buds, and it appears her fans are on board with this riff. The post has received 250,382 likes and a lot of positive chitter chatter. One Garten groupie wrote, "By far the best guacamole I've ever had!!! It's my go-to guac recipe! " While another shared, "This is by far my favourite guacamole recipe! I can't eat it at a restaurant anymore, because Ina's guacamole is so much better than any other version I've ever had. Thanks Ina!" Still, a few had concerns, but the only true way to know if Tabasco works in guacamole is to make it yourself.